HYDERABAD: The great Indian divide along north-south lines now standsblurred. A pathbreaking study by Harvard and indigenous researchers onancestral Indian populations says there is a genetic relationshipbetween all Indians and more importantly, the hitherto believed``fact'' that Aryans and Dravidians signify the ancestry of north andsouth Indians might after all, be a myth.

``This paper rewrites history... there is no north-south divide,''Lalji Singh, former director of the Centre for Cellular and MolecularBiology (CCMB) and a co-author of the study, said at a pressconference here on Thursday.

Senior CCMB scientist Kumarasamy Thangarajan said there was no truthto the Aryan-Dravidian theory as they came hundreds or thousands ofyears after the ancestral north and south Indians had settled inIndia.

The study analysed 500,000 genetic markers across the genomes of 132individuals from 25 diverse groups from 13 states. All the individualswere from six-language families and traditionally ``upper'' and``lower'' castes and tribal groups. ``The genetics proves that castesgrew directly out of tribe-like organizations during the formation ofthe Indian society,'' the study said. Thangarajan noted that it wasimpossible to distinguish between castes and tribes since theirgenetics proved they were not systematically different.

The study was conducted by CCMB scientists in collaboration withresearchers at Harvard Medical School,Harvard School of Public Health and the Broad Institute of Harvard andMIT. It reveals that the present-day Indian population is a mix ofancient north and south bearing the genomic contributions from twodistinct ancestral populations - the Ancestral North Indian (ANI) andthe Ancestral South Indian (ASI).

``The initial settlement took place 65,000 years ago in the Andamansand in ancient south India around the same time, which led topopulation growth in this part,'' said Thangarajan. He added, ``At alater stage, 40,000 years ago, the ancient north Indians emerged whichin turn led to rise in numbers here. But at some point of time, theancient north and the ancient south mixed, giving birth to a differentset of population. And that is the population which exists now andthere is a genetic relationship between the population within India.''

The study also helps understand why the incidence of genetic diseasesamong Indians is different from the rest of the world. Singh said that70% of Indians were burdened with genetic disorders and the studycould help answer why certain conditions restricted themselves to onepopulation. For instance, breast cancer among Parsi women, motorneuron diseases among residents of Tirupati and Chittoor, or sicklecell anaemia among certain tribes in central India and the North-Eastcan now be understood better, said researchers.

The researchers, who are now keen on exploring whether Eurasiansdescended from ANI, find in their study that ANIs are related towestern Eurasians, while the ASIs do not share any similarity with anyother population across the world. However, researchers said there wasno scientific proof of whether Indians went to Europe first or theother way round.

Migratory route of Africans

Between 135,000 and 75,000 years ago, the East-African droughts shrunkthe water volume of the lake Malawi by at least 95%, causing migrationout of Africa. Which route did they take? Researchers say their studyof the tribes of Andaman and Nicobar islands using completemitochondrial DNA sequences and its comparison those of worldpopulations has led to the theory of a ``southern coastal route'' ofmigration from East Africa through India.

This finding is against the prevailing view of a northern route ofmigration via Middle East, Europe, south-east Asia, Australia and thento India.

How did one survive growing up in the 80's and 90's? We had no seatbelts, no airbags..Cycling was like a breath of fresh air…No safety helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, with plenty of cardboards between spokes to make it sound like a motorbike…When thirsty we only drank tap water, bottled water was still a mystery…We kept busy collecting bits & pieces so we could build all sort of things … and we were fearless on our bicycles even when the brakes failed going downhill…We were showing off how tough we are, by how high we could climb trees & then jumping down….It was great fun….We could stay out to play for hours, as long as we got back before dark, in time for dinner…We walked to school, or sometimes we even rode our bicycle.We had no mobile phones, but we always managed to find each other…. How?We lost teeth, broke arms & legs, we got cuts and bruises and bloody noses…. nobody complained as we had so much fun, it wasn't anybody's fault, only ours.We ate everything in sight, cakes, bread, chocolate, ice-cream, sweet sugary drinks, fruits..yet, we stayed skinny by fooling around.And if one of us was lucky to find a 1 litre coca cola bottle we all had a swig from it & guess what? Nobody picked up any germs...We did not have Play Stations, MP3, Nintendo's, I-Pods, Video games, 99 Cable TV channels, DVD's, Home Cinema, Home Computers, Laptops, Chat-rooms, Internet, etc ....BUT, we had REAL FRIENDS!!!!We called on friends to come out to play, never rang the doorbell, just went around the backdoor…We played with sticks and stones, played cowboys and Indians, doctors and nurses, hide and seek, soccer games, over and over again…When we failed our exams we were given a second chance by simply repeating the same grade…without visiting psychiatrists, psychologists or counsellors…..

Meeting India's tree planting guru

Mr Raju is single-handedly organising the re-forestation of his state (All pics: Prashant Ravi)

An Indian civil servant, SM Raju, has come up with a novel way of providing employment to millions of poor in the eastern state of Bihar.

His campaign to encourage people to plant trees effectively addresses two burning issues of the world: global warming and shrinking job opportunities.

Evidence of Mr Raju's success could clearly be seen on 30 August, when he organised 300,000 villagers from over 7,500 villages in northern Bihar to engage in a mass tree planting ceremony.

In doing so the agriculture graduate from Bangalore has provided "sustainable employment" to people living below the poverty line in Bihar.

'Lack of awareness'

Mr Raju has linked his "social forestry" programme to the central government's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which is also designed to provide employment to poor people.

I told the villagers that they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them

SM Raju

Under NREGA - initiated in February 2006 as the government's most ambitious employment generation scheme for poor people - the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year to members of families living below the poverty line.

About 44% of Bihar's population fall into this category.

"The scheme has brought benefits to thousands of families since its implementation," said a recent International Labour Organisation report.

But Mr Raju says that Bihar - being the poorest and most lawless state of India - has not been able to spend the allocated NREGA funds.

"This is because of a lack of awareness among officials about the scheme," he said.

The poor monsoon this year has led to lower agricultural outputs, while flash floods in some northern districts has made the situation even worse, he said.

"So the idea struck to my mind, why not involve families below the poverty line in social forestry and give them employment under this scheme for 100 days?

"Under the scheme, each family can earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210)."

Target

The civil servant immediately made a blueprint of his idea and got the support of senior state officials.

Villagers throughout the state have planted thousands of saplings

In June Mr Raju released a comprehensive booklet of "dos and don'ts" and distributed it to village heads and district officials.

His initiative meant that NREGA funds were fully utilised - in the past this has not always been the case.

"I told the villagers that they would get 100 days employment in a year simply by planting trees and protecting them. The old, handicapped and widows would be given preference," he explained.

Every village council has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings - a group of four families has to plant 200 seedlings and they must protect them for three years till the plants grow more sturdy.

"They would get the full payment if they can ensure the survival of 90% of the plants under their care. For a 75-80% survival rate, they will be paid only half the wage. If the survival rate is less than 75%, the families in the group will be replaced," the guidelines say.

Under NREGA rules, each worker has to be paid 100 rupees ($2) per day for 100 days in a year.

Increase in funds

Mr Raju even came close to planting one billion saplings on a single day.

The scheme has become a huge success

"I started preparing for this and motivating villagers by announcing the date as 30 August," he said.

"The target for every village panchayat (council) was to plant 6,000 saplings from 6am to 6pm to achieve the target of one billion. At the end of the day, we found out that we were just just short of the target, but it was still a world record," the beaming civil servant said.

Significantly, his scheme has even stopped the migration of poor labourers from the area in search of employment elsewhere during monsoon time.

"We never thought we would get employment for planting trees and protecting them," said Paigambarpur village head Indra Bhusan, whose community - like many others - planted over 30,000 saplings mostly on both flanks of the 14km embankment which criss-crosses their village.

The saplings planted are both fruit and non-fruit trees. The non-fruit seedlings have been planted on the banks of the embankment and on state and national highways - while fruit bearing trees are planted inside the villages.

This year the central government has given more money to the scheme.

Meanwhile, the Bihar civil servant is busy collecting the facts and figures to get his feat listed by Guinness World Records.

"Bihar has edged out Pakistan from the record book," he said flashing a confident smile.

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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Mayonnaise JarWhen things in your life seem, Almost too much to handle,When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.A professor stood before his philosophy class And had some items in front of him.When the class began, wordlessly,He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jarAnd proceeded to fill it with golf balls.He then asked the students, If the jar was full.They agreed that it was.The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and pouredthem into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.He then asked The students againIf the jar was full.. They agreed it was.The professor next picked up a box of sand And poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.He asked once more if the jar was full. The students respondedWith an unanimous 'yes.'The professor then produced Two cups of coffee from under the tableAnd poured the entire contents Into the jar, effectivelyFilling the Empty space between the sand.The students laughed.'Now,' said the professor, As the laughter subsided,'I want you to recognize that This jar represents your life.The golf balls are the important things - God, family,children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions – Things that if everything else was lost And only they remained, Your life would still be full.The pebbles are the other things that matter Like your job, house, and car.The sand is everything else --The small stuff.'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,'there is no room for The pebbles or the golf balls.The same goes for life.If you spend all your time And energy on the small stuff,You will never have room for The things that areImportant to you.So...Pay attention to the things That are critical to your happiness.Play With your children.Take time to get medical checkups.Take your partner out to dinner.There will always be time To clean the house and fix the disposal.'Take care of the golf balls first --The things that really matter.Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'One of the students raised her handAnd inquired what the coffee represented.The professor smiled.'I'm glad you asked'.It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,there's always room for A couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Two WolvesOne evening anold Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.' The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

To breach the gap between Sangh (RSS) and Common people; To remove the Misconception about Sangh and Sangh work (spread many time by media or because of ignorance about ideology); we have started a YouTube channel and have made arrangements so that we can get updated videos and documentaries from Sangh. Once the process is synchronised it might well be made official YouTube channel.